Debutant leg-spinner Tuba Hassan produced a magnificent spell which earned her the player-of-the-match award as Pakistan romped home to a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the first match of the three-match T20I series played at the Southend Club, Karachi on Tuesday.
Tuba produced a stunning spell of leg-spin bowling to bamboozle the tourists in her maiden appearance for Pakistan. The Lahore-born registered the best figures on T20I debut for a Pakistan bowler with figures of 4-1-8-3. Sri Lanka were pegged back at the start of the innings with the seasoned left-arm-spinner Anam Amin taking the first two wickets including the big wicket of Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu, who had earlier won the toss and opted to bat first.
Nilakshi de Silva and Harshitha Madavi top-scored with Sri Lanka with 25 runs each. De Silva scored her runs off 22 balls with the help of a six and a four. Madavi scored her runs off 35 balls with the help of two fours. Anam added one more wicket in her second spell to finish with three wickets for 21 runs from her four overs. Pacer Aimen Anwar contributed with two wickets for 32 runs as Pakistan bowlers maintained their stranglehold on the opponents.
Pakistan lost their other debutant Gull Feroza (0) in the opening over of their innings, Iram Javed scored a quickfire 18 off 14 balls (three fours) before she was dismissed by Oshadi Ranasinghe in the sixth over. Muneeba Ali (18) was dismissed with the score at 45 in the 9th over.
The seasoned duo of captain Bismah Maroof and Nida Dar added 51 runs for the fourth-wicket to consolidate Pakistan’s position. Bismah fell for 28 to Ranasinghe in the 17th over. Nida took Pakistan to victory on the second ball of the 19th over, the all-rounder remained unbeaten on 36 off 27 (two fours, one six). Ranasinghe took two wickets. —APP
